Coffee, tea or cola in sleepers?

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Dustyroad

Service Attendant
Joined
Jul 2, 2020
Messages
166
And I am happy to announce that Amtrak is restoring traditional dining to it's long distance trains ( but not all trains ) starting June 23 this summer. Go to the Amtrak site and look up the new menu's they have under '' experience, and choose your train. I'm very excited that they have gotten rid of the flex meals for the train I will be on. And hopefully that means we will have coffee in our car. But, that has not been stated yet by Amtrak, so we will have to wait and see. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that.
 
And hopefully that means we will have coffee in our car. But, that has not been stated yet by Amtrak, so we will have to wait and see. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that.
I will certainly be interested in the reports on this. I think sometimes it depends on whether you have a "one pot and that's all she wrote, folks" attendant or a "multiple pot" attendant.

Also I am curious to know what is being done on the lowly eastern trains. Does the attendant make any coffee at all in the car or is the dining car now the exclusive source of coffee? Maybe that depends on the attendant also.
 
And I am happy to announce that Amtrak is restoring traditional dining to it's long distance trains ( but not all trains ) starting June 23 this summer. Go to the Amtrak site and look up the new menu's they have under '' experience, and choose your train. I'm very excited that they have gotten rid of the flex meals for the train I will be on. And hopefully that means we will have coffee in our car. But, that has not been stated yet by Amtrak, so we will have to wait and see. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that.
Get yourself a single serve Keurig. Take some K-Cups, Mini Moos and powdered sweetner if you use them in your coffee. No more "bottom of the pot" sludge. I've done that for ages. It's easy to use, no reservoir to drain.
You will need a short extension cord if you are in a Roomette. Take one in any case.

Keurig K-Slim coffee maker available on Amazon
 
Get yourself a single serve Keurig. Take some K-Cups, Mini Moos and powdered sweetner if you use them in your coffee. No more "bottom of the pot" sludge. I've done that for ages. It's easy to use, no reservoir to drain.
You will need a short extension cord if you are in a Roomette. Take one in any case.

Keurig K-Slim coffee maker available on Amazon
Great idea. 👍👍
 
Fresh coffee in the morning, and even a mid morning pick me up probably moves pretty well, after that, it might make more sense to provide it out of the cafe or diner, probably very wasteful to make a big batch and have it sit for hours, and mostly get dumped. They could switch to concentrate dispensers, like a Douwe Egberts machine, depending on which blend cartridges are purchased they range from bad to very good.
 
I don't see why having an "all day coffee pot" is so essential ... As long as they don't run out of Coke I am fine - don't drink coffee
One presumes you are referring to the most popular carbonated beverage on Earth... As a longtime Coca Cola drinker and stockholder, I thank you - but I digress...
In the recent "good old days", there was ice, water, juices in the little rectangular boxes, and COFFEE available 'most all day. Alas, AMTRAK had an exclusive thing with the Devil's Brew, Pepsi.
Since then, AMTRAK has contracted with Coca Cola - YAAY!
Ice must be brought to you by the SCA, "It's an FDA rule", they say. Booo...
Coffee Pots have been removed or deactivated, blamed on COVID-19, of course. Booo...
The boxes of juices have been removed - they weren't sealed single service - blamed on COVID-19, of course. Booo...
Water? Well, we still get two bottles awaiting us in the room when we board, and more is available on request. Used to be, it was stocked for individual retrieval. No longer - blamed on COVID-19, of course. Booo...
Sometimes, the occasional very caring and enterprising SCA would put out a supply of candies, snacks, magazines, all very much appreciated. No longer - blamed on COVID-19, of course. Booo...

However, comma, you usually had to pay for a carbonated soft drink, either Coca Cola or the other stuff.

So, do what we do - bring your own supply. Amazon has a really nice electrically powered softside cooler which works quite well for drinks and snacks, chilled wine, and even keeps my corn squeezings cool for those emergencies when the ice runs out. We bring a Keurig mini brewer, and I see they also have the Chefman mini brewer which will do loose coffee, tea, etc. With all the service reductions of late, we fight back in our own special way.
 
Fresh coffee in the morning, and even a mid morning pick me up probably moves pretty well, after that, it might make more sense to provide it out of the cafe or diner, probably very wasteful to make a big batch and have it sit for hours, and mostly get dumped. They could switch to concentrate dispensers, like a Douwe Egberts machine, depending on which blend cartridges are purchased they range from bad to very good.
Amtrak uses those icky machines in the Diners and Cafes. I have found their product to range from bad to very bad. BARELY one step above powdered instant, although a baby step. And what a b____h to clean!
Now then - a commerical Keurig machine plumbed into the potable water system? No waste, no bottom of the pot sludge.
My company put in several of the plumbed in Keurigs (which automatically toss the used K-Cup into the trash bin below), and believe it or not, the cost of providing complimentary coffee to employees and guests went down, due to less waste, ruined carafes, less mess to clean, and the rest of the issues with the older style coffee service.
And if you have a particular like, you bring your own K-Cups!
 
The newest cars have dispensers for the ice, so no passenger hands can touch it, they will pass FDA muster. The water doesn't bother me, I've never had a problem getting more, and this way it isn't all gone because the chiselers loaded up on it for the rest of their vacation. Recent ride reports have seemed to indicate morning coffee is back. I don't know if the juice boxes will be back, the large ones will not pass sanitary rules, the small boxes get stolen like the water. Perhaps a redisn of the station would move to concentrate dispensers for juice and coffee/hot beverages, and hands off ice like the VL2
 
I have regular experience with the D-E at 2 locations, one is bad, one is very good. The difference is in the cartridge selection. I have a Keurig in the office behind my classroom, and get my K cups from the instructors lounge downstairs. Depending on who does the ordering, you can get excellent blends or cheap yucky ones. When a delivery of good ones come in, a couple of boxes go into my file cabinet. And in all things coffee, cleanliness and water quality make a huge difference.
 
The newest cars have dispensers for the ice, so no passenger hands can touch it, they will pass FDA muster. The water doesn't bother me, I've never had a problem getting more, and this way it isn't all gone because the chiselers loaded up on it for the rest of their vacation. Recent ride reports have seemed to indicate morning coffee is back. I don't know if the juice boxes will be back, the large ones will not pass sanitary rules, the small boxes get stolen like the water. Perhaps a redisn of the station would move to concentrate dispensers for juice and coffee/hot beverages, and hands off ice like the VL2
Good news!
Indeed, when you can catch the SCA, they almost always have more water.
One of those restaurant/convenience store type dispensers for juices would be nice, but things installed on trains need to be pretty bulletproof to keep working with all the shake rattle and roll. But then they would need to be serviced periodically, and we know how well AMTRAK handles that!
As to the chiselers who grabbed and hoarded water, juices, all the rest, there is a specially equipped section in Hell awaiting them, I hope. I remember one incident when I went to the head at the top of the stairs and noticed three boxes of juice and several bottles of water on the stand. When I came out, they were gone. Not empty, GONE!
Mooks are everywhere...
 
I have regular experience with the D-E at 2 locations, one is bad, one is very good. The difference is in the cartridge selection. I have a Keurig in the office behind my classroom, and get my K cups from the instructors lounge downstairs. Depending on who does the ordering, you can get excellent blends or cheap yucky ones. When a delivery of good ones come in, a couple of boxes go into my file cabinet. And in all things coffee, cleanliness and water quality make a huge difference.
Now yer talkin'! Cafe Bustelo for kickstarting, and the Cafe con Leche at the end of the day.
 
I need one cup of black coffee first thing in the morning, before encountering a lot of lights, people, or noise, to avoid a caffeine headache.
So having the coffee pot in the sleeper was ideal for me because I would get a headache if I had to get it from the cafe or diner.

Without a coffee pot in the sleeper, I would be “forced” to carry intense dark chocolate with me (for the caffeine, of course) and eat a few pieces first thing in the morning before I face the world.😁

On a more serious note, I love the Keurig coffee, but do any of the pods get recycled? I remember reading that the man who invented it was upset when he realized the amount of trash his invention had unleashed in the world. Has there been a solution found to this?
 
One presumes you are referring to the most popular carbonated beverage on Earth... As a longtime Coca Cola drinker and stockholder, I thank you - but I digress...
In the recent "good old days", there was ice, water, juices in the little rectangular boxes, and COFFEE available 'most all day. Alas, AMTRAK had an exclusive thing with the Devil's Brew, Pepsi.
Since then, AMTRAK has contracted with Coca Cola - YAAY!

I am aware of the change to Coke® from the much better tasting Pepsi® - However, I was referring to this beverage in a generic way ... it can refer to any of the various flavors of whatever vendor brand they are serving

My main point was not so much about the brand - it was in reference to all the focus on "coffee" and "wine" when there are many of us who would prefer "hot chocolate" and "non-alcohol" beverages ... but not many people fuss about them not being available. To those of us who do not drink coffee, it is just as important to have what we drink available as it is for coffee to be available. If "coffee", "juice" and "wine" is part of the perks for a sleeper, so should "soda", "hot chocolate", and "tea" be also ... and just as available as the coffee.
 
My main point was not so much about the brand - it was in reference to all the focus on "coffee" and "wine" when there are many of us who would prefer "hot chocolate" and "non-alcohol" beverages ... but not many people fuss about them not being available. To those of us who do not drink coffee, it is just as important to have what we drink available as it is for coffee to be available. If "coffee", "juice" and "wine" is part of the perks for a sleeper, so should "soda", "hot chocolate", and "tea" be also ... and just as available as the coffee.

Even more reason to use the Keurig systems. Tea, Cocoa, Chai (whatever that is), Hot Chocolate are all offered in K-Cups. Decaf, too! Even the Starbucks Hot Chocolate is in K-Cups. No little marshmallows, alas.

So you can bring your favorite! And not have to drink that foul concoction brewed by the other large carbonated beverage maker.
 
Before I have my morning cup of hot, strong coffee in the morning '' The World Does Not Want To Face Me ''. Making me have to fix my '' bed-head with one eye open'' and tromp though several cars in my pj's to get to the diner or cafe car for a cup of coffee and get it back to my roomette, is not in the deal for the price I pay for that roomette!! And I don't plan on waiting on the cabin steward who will be busy doing other things who probably gives a hoot about my coffee won't work either. Give me that coffee in the car Please.
 
I don't drink coffee either, but they don't offend me

They don't offend me either - it just seems that those of us who don't drink coffee are dismissed because no one seems to make a fuss that hot chocolate is not offered ... they only seem to be worried about coffee.

Even more reason to use the Keurig systems. Tea, Cocoa, Chai (whatever that is), Hot Chocolate are all offered in K-Cups. Decaf, too! Even the Starbucks Hot Chocolate is in K-Cups. No little marshmallows, alas.

Uhm ... No!

Have you ever tasted hot chocolate made after cups of coffee have been sent through one of those machines? Tastes like coffee 😝

So you can bring your favorite! And not have to drink that foul concoction brewed by the other large carbonated beverage maker.

While I prefer Pepsi® I have no issues with drinking Coke® ... I even like RC®

In fact, I actually prefer Cherry Coke over Cherry Pepsi and if Amtrak had Cherry Coke I would enjoy that ... last time I rode the train they did not offer it.
 
Well, with the limited number of outlets in the older sleepers ... we may have to be careful with what we "plug" or we won't be able to keep our Samsung® phone or iPhone® charged have a place to plug in our Windows® laptop so we can watch our Marvel® movies or check our Facebook® account ... but then, who worries about brand names 🤭
 
Well, with the limited number of outlets in the older sleepers ... we may have to be careful with what we "plug" or we won't be able to keep our Samsung® phone or iPhone® charged have a place to plug in our Windows® laptop so we can watch our Marvel® movies or check our Facebook® account ... but then, who worries about brand names 🤭

Seems a bit different if every post mentioned "Keurig systems". Just boil a kettle, its not rocket science!
 
I usually keep the Cafe Bustelo, and the "Original Donut Shop" in my stash. I have a mini fridge, so I always have fresh half and half. I think a pod type machine like a Keurig would be great, but I don't know of one that solves the theft problem.
 
I mention the brand of coffee maker, it is one of the best selling low to medium volume systems on the market with a very wide range of products available for use in its systems. That being said, I do not see them as practical for an Amtrak coffee station.
 
At least we can get reasonable facsimiles of coffee and soft drinks on Amtrak. Now, tea...that really is a sore spot. Tepid water and a teabag do not make tea. I'm not asking for them to warm the pot first with boiling water--though that would be delightful--but just make a cuppa that passes muster. (Oh, and while I'm on about it, I'm a MIF gal--milk in first.) Make me a decent cup of Yorkshire Gold and I'll follow you anywhere...
 
Have you ever tasted hot chocolate made after cups of coffee have been sent through one of those machines? Tastes like coffee 😝
The better machines either have a rinse cycle or you can use the smallest cup size to purge the coffee taste before making an alternate beverage. I don't drink coffee, although my significant other has enough for both of us, but I frequently make my tea and other hot drinks with the Keurig.
 
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